The Hero
by S. Snowflake
Summary: The endings of both the movie's theatrical cut and the stage version of the musical from Seymour's point of view. There's joy, sorrow, and above all, love. Rated T for violence, language, and character death later on. SeymourXAudrey.
1. Part 1

_Author's Note/Disclaimer: It's so refreshing to get back to this fandom. Here's a story that's been cooking for a couple of years now. I've never really executed it properly, but I think it speaks for itself. Basically, enjoy this first part based on the happy ending, and then prepare for downbeat ending in the next part. _

_I do not own "Little Shop of Horrors," its characters, or the song "Hero" performed by Enrique Iglesias. I'm just writing to entertain my fellow nerds._

_–S. Snowflake_

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><p><em><strong>The Hero<strong>_

**Part 1**

"_Would you dance if I asked you to dance?  
>Would you run and never look back?<br>Would you cry if you saw me crying?  
>Would you save my soul tonight?"<em>

Blackness. Cold, black clouds of nothing surrounded him. There was a crushing pressure on his back, but even that was fading. This was the end. He was going to die here underneath the remains of the flower shop that he had called home nearly all his life. But his punishment fit his crimes. He deserved to be killed by the monster he created.

Then there was a spark in the darkness that reminded him why he wanted to fight in the first place. He remembered her. His angel was waiting for him. The monster would doubtlessly kill her next.

_No! Not that, _he thought as another shock ran through his body. Where was this strange inspiration coming from?

He had to fight harder. He had promised to keep her safe, to be there when she needed him.

Fight harder he did, but the debris above him wouldn't budge, and he was losing breathable air. _You've got to try harder, Seymour ol' boy, _he thought.

Then the greatest spark of all hit him. While the others had been rather surprising, this one was painful.

"What the hell?" he thought aloud before his hand gripped the source of the bizarre inspiration. A lone electrical cable with its wires frayed beyond repair had been sending electric shocks through his body all this time.

Though he had no idea if he was just being crazy, he gripped the wire tightly and sent his hand right through the rubble. Somehow, even though he couldn't see a thing underneath the crushing debris, he found what he was looking for. One of the monster's vines landed right next to the cable. The cable sent out the strongest shock yet, but this time it was the plant that felt the pain. The alien gurgled on its own saliva as the electricity coursed through its xylem, its internal structure practically frying. All of the little pods on its vines screeched as they one by one died.

The plant cried a last curse of "Oh, shit!" before exploding into a million pieces of vegetable matter.

It took the boy in the rubble a few seconds to realize that he was alive. He was so happy, he was sure he had crossed over. Nothing in the world could make him happier than knowing that his angel was going to be okay. –Well, nothing could make him happier, that is, except being in the angel's arms. Maybe he could even manage that.

He pushed against the rubble on his back again. Somehow he was able to lift it off better this time. He gasped as he breathed in the air his lungs had so dearly missed and looked around.

He could see little traces of bricks and cement, but nothing more. He prayed that she was okay; that she hadn't been harmed in the explosion.

Slowly he stood up and brushed off a bit of debris dusting his clothes. Though his muscles felt sore, he managed to take a step forward. So far nothing felt broken. And still he tried to find her with the clouds of debris and the dust covering his glasses.

_Click. Clack. Click. Clack._

He knew the sound of her heels well, even though it was faint. She was there. Another cloud of dust passed by, this one the thickest of all, before he finally saw her.

Her blonde hair and white dress almost glowed among the rubble, streetlight, and "Chooz" neon light above them. Along with all her beauty, he noticed that tears were falling from her eyes.

_Why is she crying?_ he wondered, drawing nearer to her. _She's alive!_

He didn't know that she had been watching every moment he had been fighting the plant. He didn't know that when she saw the shop fall down on him, her whole world had ended, and she could not keep her tears from falling. All he knew was that he wanted to be at her side more than anything else in the world.

The dust cleared some more, she saw him, and her face changed from sadness to the biggest smile he had ever seen her smile. He couldn't help but smile back at that, even though his shoulders were hurting terribly.

In mere seconds, though it felt like hours, they wrapped their arms around each other in the warmest of embraces. All the pain he had endured seemed to melt away. She was crying more than ever, but they were tears of joy rather than sorrow.

The pair took no time in finding a safe place to rest for the night. A decent hotel room on the lower west side made a fine shelter until morning. Standing there at the remains of the flower shop would have raised too many questions when the cops arrived.

They both crashed into the hotel bed, exhausted. The young man especially felt as though he could sleep for a thousand years. Just as he was about to let the warm darkness of sleep pull him under, her voice interrupted him.

"Seymour?" she said, shifting closer to him.

Seymour couldn't keep his eyes open, but he did reply, "Yeah, Audrey?"

Audrey grinned and gently wrapped her arms around Seymour. Even though the evil plant was gone, she still had a lot of fear leftover in her heart at the thought of losing him. She had to tell him exactly what she was feeling at that exact moment, but finding the right words to say wasn't easy.

"Audrey, what is it?" Seymour pressed, still not hearing an answer from her.

At last she decided on what to say and whispered, "My hero."

Seymour smiled at that before falling into a fitful sleep. He rested well knowing that he would wake up to find his guiding light there to greet him. So the hero rested in the arms of his angel at last.

"_Would you tremble if I touched your lips?_

_Would you laugh? Oh please, tell me this._

_Now, would you die for the one you love?_

_Hold me in your arms tonight."_


	2. Part 2

_**The Hero**_

**Part 2**

"_I just want to hold you._

_I just want to hold you…_

_Am I in too deep?_

_Have I lost my mind?_

_Well, I don't care; you're here tonight."_

Blackness. Cold, black clouds of nothing filled his heart. Somewhere he felt the need to sleep, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so. He was lost, numb, and heartbroken as he sat crouched over in the corner of the shop, occasionally shedding a tear beneath his glasses as he thought over the night's events.

If he had told her what the monster lived on, she never would have come to the shop.

If he hadn't gone out to get it food, he would have been there when she stopped by.

If he hadn't ordered the extra rare meat, he might have gotten back in time to save her.

But the plant got to her before he did, and left two large teeth marks in her side, mortally wounding her. He was only able to confess his evils to her before she made her last, heart-wrenching wish. He could hear her words as if she were saying them to him now:

"_When I die…give me to the plant, so that it will live, and bring you all the wonderful things you deserve."_

He didn't want to believe that she was dying. He almost thought the whole thing was a dream at first, but as soon as her body went limp in his arms, he knew it was real. Horrific, crushing, and real.

The girl he had sworn to protect was dead. How could he ever live with himself?

But somehow among all the darkness–the need to just give up–a new purpose arose. Who would have guessed that a salesperson would give him a reason to survive without her?

Patrick Martin was the salesman's name. Martin didn't know it, but his plan to take cuttings of the Audrey II to develop thousands of the blood-eating plants would put millions of lives in danger. One plant had destroyed the nerd's life, but thousands…they would destroy the world!

He was too stunned to speak to the pushy salesman before the Botanical Enterprise fellow went out the door, ready to take the cuttings, but he knew that the time to take action was now.

"Every household in America. Thousands of you _eating_!" he shouted. If his angel had been there as that surviving light in the darkness, he might have been brave as he said those words, but instead, they were desperate. "That's what you had in mind all along isn't it?"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Audrey II cackled.

The plant was taunting him now. Determined, he went into the back room and found whatever could possibly destroy the monster he had created. He returned with a pistol, a box of rat poison, and a machete.

"Feed me!" the plant demanded.

He turned sharply and cried, "You ate the only thing I ever loved!"

"Ooh, too bad!" Audrey II said, smugly.

At the mentioning of her, and how her death was nothing more than another meal to Audrey II, he had it. He aimed the gun and fired all six times, each round shouting, "Take that!"

But it did no good. Audrey II's skin was too thick. "Give up, Krelborn," the plant mocked.

Then he grabbed the box of rat poison and stuffed it in the monster's toothy maw. The plant coughed and spat the stuff out of its pod.

"Give up, small fry," it warned him. "I–am–bad!"

The nerd, however, was enraged. He gripped the machete in his hands and backed up a couple of feet before charging at the pod and beating at its lips with the blade.

"Maybe you're tough on the outside, but in there, in that pod, I'll hack you to bits! Open up! Open up!" he demanded, trying to pry the pod open.

The nerd had to really fight the plant to get its pod open, but eventually found the space he needed. Never once looking back, he dove in, blade raised toward the roof of the plant's pod. This time he knew there was no guarantee of return from the darkness he was descending into.

Audrey II growled before biting down on its victim, putting the boy through a tremendous amount of pain as a front tooth sliced through his shoulder. Still, the boy held onto the blade and swung as best as he could with the injury. The plant bit down again, now trapping his foot, and still the blade hadn't made any damage. Worse, the mouth of this monster was so slimy it was sending him sliding to the back of the throat. The digestive liquids that he had seen in so many flytraps before were dripping into his wounds, making them open further and bleed.

He dropped the machete in the struggle, but managed to get it back just before the plant bit down again. No injuries, but the machete was gone and he couldn't see a thing. He felt around for it, trying to ignore the immense pain, but it was no good. This time the monster clamped his back down with the left side of its mouth. He couldn't even imagine how many teeth pierced his skin or how much blood he was losing as the monster's tongue sent him right to the back of the throat.

Lack of air, blood loss, and exhaustion put his struggles to a stop, and his thoughts went near blank. He had failed. He had failed himself in not seeing the evil he committed from the start with Orin. He had failed his only father figure and fed him to the plant. He had doomed the world to a terrifying new enemy. But worst of all, he had failed to protect her.

Yes, her. In his last few seconds of consciousness, he thought of the last thing he had said to his angel before she was sent back to heaven where she came from.

"_If there had never been an Audrey Two, if I was just a nothin' again, would you still like me?"_

_She hadn't waited a moment before answering, "I'd still _love_ you, Seymour."_

Then the darkness surrounded him. Silently, softly, it pulled him under. He knew that he would not die a hero; not by any stretch of the imagination. He was a failure…

The darkness suddenly gave way to a blinding light. Not just any light–it was the most beautiful, warm light he had ever seen, and his heart jumped with jubilation as he drew nearer.

Her beautiful blonde hair and white dress glowed in heavenly light as she stood before him with her arms wide open.

"Audrey…" he said, leaving his body behind without a second thought. He reached out to the angel and in a few moments held her tight, never planning to let go.

"Oh, Seymour," she replied, crying sadly, for her love had so soon fallen to the same fate she had.

Seymour could not understand how Audrey could ever cry for him when it was his fault that she had died, but he swore that he could have died again as he heard her whisper in the softest voice, "My hero."

Whether heaven or hell awaited him, he could at least enjoy this one moment with her. In the arms of his angel, he would always be a hero.

"_I can be your hero._

_I can kiss away the pain._

_I will stand by you forever._

_You can take my breath away._

_I can be your hero."_

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><p><em><span>Author's Note<span>: This is kind of unusual for me to leave a note at the end of the story. I wanted to say that I hope no one was offended by the mentioning of heaven and hell and the afterlife. While I personally am not sure I believe in such a thing, the idea of the afterlife really fascinates me…mostly because it involves ghosts and stuff like that. Anyway, thanks for reading, hope this wasn't too sad._

_*S. Snowflake  
><em>


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